Administrators struggle to explain decline

Economy only partly to blame for private school losses

Aug. 18, 2012

Written by

Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team

It could be the economy. It could be smaller family sizes. It could be the growth of charter schools.

Private school officials can make only educated guesses about the reasons behind declining enrollment in Wisconsin’s private schools.

“It’s a very personal decision,” said Annamarie Engelhard, director of advancement for Twin City Catholic Educational System in Neenah. “At times, it may have to do with that particular child, it may have to do with where the parents went to school. … It’s very different than it was 20 years ago.”

The number of students attending private schools in Wisconsin was down to 124,668 last year, a 12.5 percent decline from a decade ago, according to the state’s Department of Public Instruction.

Few schools conduct exit interviews or surveys that could give administrators a better sense of why families leave private schools or opt for public schools at the start of a child’s education. But administrators carefully track enrollment at all varieties of schools — public, private and charter — to try to interpret where students are headed and why.

Matt Kussow, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools, said lower grade levels at private schools have seen the biggest drop-off in enrollment over time. Total enrollment is “a number we watch closely,” he said.

Kussow said declines can’t be blamed entirely on the economy, though one national study found one year of tuition at a private school averages around $8,500. Families who need financial help usually can get it, through scholarships and other assistance, he said.

Janet Klosinski, president of Newman Catholic Schools in the Wausau area, said the system put more emphasis on helping families find financial help as the economy struggled. A recent $1.2 million donation to the system will go entirely toward tuition support.

“There is a need, and we’re really passionate about helping every family seeking out a Catholic education in the Wausau area,” Klosinski said.

But changing schools also can be a personal decision unrelated to a family’s bank account.

Max Erdmann will enter seventh grade this year at Kiel Middle School for his second year at the in Sheboygan County public school after attending aLutheran school in the area. His mom, Susan Erdmann, said her son had problems with classmates at the private school when he was in fifth grade.

She decided her son was better off at a public school, with more classmates.

“If you don’t fit in with the five boys in your class (at a private school), you’re the guy on the outside,” she said. “Since sixth grade when he came back to the public school, he’s done great.”